| First Author | Benatuil L | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | Eur J Immunol | Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | 2638-47 |
| PubMed ID | 16082726 | Mgi Jnum | J:113488 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3686833 | Doi | 10.1002/eji.200526146 |
| Citation | Benatuil L, et al. (2005) The influence of natural antibody specificity on antigen immunogenicity. Eur J Immunol 35(9):2638-47 |
| abstractText | The natural antibody repertoire in humans, apes and Old World primates is distinct from the repertoire of all other placental mammals, and encodes antibodies specific for the carbohydrate epitope Galalpha1-3Galbeta1-4GlcNAc-R (alphaGal). Here, we examined whether conjugating antigens to the alphaGal epitope can augment their immunogenicity in alpha(1,3)galactosyltransferase knockout mice (GT0 mice) which, like humans, produce alphaGal-specific antibodies. Immunization of GT0 mice with BSA conjugated to alphaGal (alphaGal-BSA) led to significant production of anti-BSA IgG antibodies without the need for adjuvant. This response was dependent on the presence of alphaGal-reactive antibodies. Immunization of wild-type mice with alphaGal-BSA failed to induce an anti-BSA response. The presence of alphaGal-reactive antibodies also led to an increase in the T cell response to BSA following immunization with alphaGal-BSA when compared with mice that received BSA alone, resulting in an increased frequency of IFN-gamma- and IL-4-producing BSA-specific T cells. In addition, the ability to produce alphaGal-reactive antibodies enhanced the cytotoxic T lymphocyte anti-viral antigen response following vaccination with murine leukemia virus transformed cell lines that express alphaGal on their cell surface. Natural antibodies that bind alphaGal therefore play a key role in increasing the efficiency of priming to antigens decorated with alphaGal epitopes. |
